This invention is concerned with shoe lasting machines and more especially those with a wiper assembly for a shoe lasting machine, comprising two wiper plate arrangements providing a continuous wiping surface and leading edge and being mounted for pivotal movement relative to one another about a centrally disposed pivot.
Wiper assemblies of such a construction are generally well known: see e.g. UK patent specification No. 1239326 and European patent specification No. 0210824.
In such assemblies, the shape of the continuous wiping surface, as viewed in plan, and the leading edge thereof is fixed, since conventionally each wiper plate arrangement comprises a single wiper plate machined from a single piece of metal. Especially in the case of the lasting of toe ends of shoes, however, it will be appreciated that there are distinct differences in shape, often dictated by fashion, but nevertheless with variations within each fashion style, and with a fixed shape of wiper plates it is thus necessary to provide different sets of wiper plates to suit the particular style of shoe to be operated upon. In particular, it will be borne in mind that toe shapes fall into three general categories: pointed, rounded and square. Within any such category it may sometimes be possible to compromise between similar styles to achieve a satisfactory lasting result, but it would rarely be possible to compromise between two categories. Consequently, it is customary to provide suitable sets of wiper plates appropriate to any given style of shoe. Not only does this lead to increased expense in the provision of such "bespoke" components, and not only is the fitting of such components time-consuming, leading to loss in productivity, but also where may well be problems of supply, especially where the user of the machine is located a long distance away from the supplier.